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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28571061">Same Space</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/exovelvetwriters/pseuds/exovelvetwriters'>exovelvetwriters</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, EXOVelvet, F/M, Fantasy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>Filipino</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:13:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,401</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28571061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/exovelvetwriters/pseuds/exovelvetwriters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They decided to meet at a certain place, on a certain date and at a certain time:<br/>At the gazebo within the forest in the back of their homes. January 28 2021. 12:00 AM.<br/>When the moon aligns with the highest tree.<br/>That’s when the time in their worlds are the same.</p>
<p>Genre: Fantasy, Prompt: Rendezvous</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Minseok | Xiumin &amp; Son Seungwan | Wendy, Kim Minseok | Xiumin/Son Seungwan | Wendy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>EXOVelvetWritersFest 2.0</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Same Space</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Minseok’s POV:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I think I met </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>when I ran away from our house. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was when my dad introduced me to his then new wife. I was young, around 8 years old that’s why it was a hard blow for the kid in me that my dad was replacing my mom who just died three months ago then.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sa bahay nila lola kami nakatira noon. Lola had a big garden at the back of her house with failing fences. That’s where I sneaked out that day. Because behind the residence, there lies a great stretch of forest before the uphill residences of the then governor of our place.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I kept on walking until I heard something. A piano playing in the middle of the forest. Of course, I freaked out. Growing up, people scare kids of ghosts and monsters. A playing piano in the middle of a forest certainly screams </span>
  <em>
    <span>unnatural.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was weird. The music. It seemed familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Until I saw it… her. At a gazebo deep inside this forest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She looked up. And then she spoke. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uoy era ohw?” “Anong ginagawa mo dito?” Sabay naming sinabe.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I almost missed it but I was sure she spoke… I just didn’t understand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hindi ka ba natatakot dito?” Dugtong kong tanong.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Om ebasanis gnona? Ouy dnatsrednu t’nod I.” She frowned as she spoke.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Napakunot din ang noo ko. “Hindi kita maintindihan. Are you a foreigner?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Still, her frown hadn’t changed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sobrang lito na namin sa isa’t isa. We don’t understand each other. Until she moved away from the piano… and towards me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I wanted to scream that time. Bakit ganun? Bakit paatras sya maglakad.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Multo ka ba?” Unti unti ko ding pag-atras tuwing lumalapit sya sa akin.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nahidnitniam atik idnih.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At 8 years old, when a girl is playing a piano, walking backwards and talking gibberish. You don’t hesitate. You fucking run for your life.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mabilis akong nakauwi nun, di nga napansin sa bahay namin eh. But I never forgot that girl.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a week, we left Lola’s house to live in Manila. Sobrang bilis ng mga bagay, nalulunod ako. Hindi ko mahabol. I wasn’t able to adapt to it, para akong tutang hinagis na lang sa tubig, hinayaang matutong maglangoy ng mag-isa. They got married, they got a new kid, they sent me to some school in the middle of the school year. Ang bilis ng lahat ng bagay.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That’s why everytime na umuuwi kami sa probinsya ni Lola… para akong nakakahinga. It is something familiar. It is warm. It is home. It is my pause in my fast forward life. So I always look forward to all of my holiday vacations there because I feel welcomed in it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then one summer, when I was 15, I was helping my grandmother clean her backyard when I saw a crumpled photo of a girl on the pavement. Anybody could have missed it. It’s almost covered with soil, and some of its edges were already torn.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But what I didn’t expect to see was the girl in the photo. I could remember her clearly… the photo of the girl from the forest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At the back of it, there’s a note: “Ereht eb d'I dna. Em ot uoy dael syawla dluow taht srewolf fo edarap dnarg eht gnitiaw eb dluow ereht neht. Emoclew mraw emos rof seert erif eerht ,owt ,eno.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I was 15. Hindi na ako ganoong katakot. Syempre, ‘di pa rin naman nawawala sa isip ko na baka multo o engkato yung babae noon but I can’t seem to get out of this curiosity of knowing what she truly is and what she is saying.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I didn’t know why but curiosity got the best of me. Well, that curiosity was also my escape to the life I never chose so I let myself drown in it instead.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That’s when I figured out what the note meant:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“One, two, three fire trees for some warm welcome. Then there would be waiting the grand parade of flowers that would always lead you to me. And I'd be there.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I followed the path back towards the forest. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Three. Three fire trees,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beside the third fire tree was a meadow of flowers. Was it here when I first got lost here? Baka di ko na napansin because I was bothered the last time I was here.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There at the end of the pathway of flowers was the same gazebo that night.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And there she was, older than what I remembered her… of course, kahit ako tumanda naman.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But still with the same familiar unfamiliar piano piece she’s playing back then.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I listened deeply to it before speaking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Somewhere in Time… but backwards.” I spoke to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She stopped playing. Then slowly, she started to have the same frown she had back then. I wasn’t sure know back then if what I was about to do will work but I came with a pen and paper and wrote:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“.sdrawkcab era eW” </span>
  <em>
    <span>“We are backwards.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She wrote back. “?naem uoy od tahW” </span>
  <em>
    <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“:tsrif eht ot rettel tsal eht morf gnitrats siht gnitirwer yrT” </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Try rewriting this starting from the last letter to the first:”</span>
  </em>
  <span> I looked back at her to check if she understood.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She slowly nodded. So I wrote what I wanted to say in proper writing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then she rewrote it from her end: “.koesniM m'I !iH” </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Hi! I'm Minseok.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She dropped the pen and paper and looked back at me with wide eyes. Before I could even react, she already ran away from me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Three nights. I remembered that it was exactly three nights from that encounter when I had enough of thinking about her and went back to the forest. At first I thought nobody was there because no one was playing the piano… but there she was, slowly walking from one of the trees around… being cautious on her every step.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You are walking normally.” I reacted when I saw her properly walking towards me. It was awkward but nonetheless a tad bit normal on my standards.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was holding a pen and notebook and wrote: “I practiecd walking bakcwards so I won't scare you.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>“.uoy eracs t'now I os sdrawckab gniklaw dceitcarp I”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I bet she knew that there were some errors in her writing that’s why she looked so shy back then. I smiled at her reassuringly. “.dnatsrednu I” </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I understand.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She finally smiled back. She wrote again: “I'm Wendy. Nice meeting you, Minseok.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>“.koesniM ,uoy gniteem eciN .ydneW m'I”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was nice, indeed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wendy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wendy became the new welcome I never thought I’d get used to. Growing up, I never got to see eye to eye with how my family had became. Ironically, I found the understanding I needed from the girl whose existence I could never understand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She had become my safe haven. One where my mind can rest. She had become the lull to my chaotic world. And I ached everytime to seek refuge back to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Years passed. Slowly but rather surely, little by little, I knew… she became someone more for me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Anong araw dyan ngayon?” I asked by writing backwards in the fifth notebook we had since we first started talking. It’s almost full, I can’t believe we’ve been talking this long. 5 years.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“January 28, 2026.” She replied neatly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh. Dito, January 28 din pero 2016.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“10 years.” she wrote.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She stared off into space, which I took as an opportunity to take in all of her… that she’s still real as it gets. That she’s here. Unconsciously, I tucked in some of her hair at the back of her ear. She was startled because of it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry.” I said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you think… that there’ll be a time where we are at the same time?” She wrote diligently and showed it to me with a hopeful look in her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Would there be really a time like that?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“January 28 2021. 5 years from both where we are now.” She continued. “Would we be in the same space by that time?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I calculated it. 5 years from today, and also 5 years from her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Just maybe…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe, it can happen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe that time… that same space we would have… could be the bridge of my world to yours.” She finished my thoughts.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And in that maybe, that tiny hope from that </span>
  <em>
    <span>maybe</span>
  </em>
  <span> had given us, we hold on to the thought that we can pull one of us to be in the same space as the other.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>“Let’s meet at our same time.”</b>
  <span> We both said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I got home a little past 11:00 PM that day.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re not well.” That’s the first thing my father told me when I entered the house.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean? Why are you all gathered here at this hour?” I looked at them. My father, my grandmother, my stepmom and my siblings. They’re all there with the same serious look.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I told them about the girl you said you were seeing. And the notebooks.” one of my brothers said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I felt cold running all over my body.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>No. Hindi pwede.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re going to the US to have a specialist check you. We’re leaving… now.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tangina.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hanggang ngayon. ‘Di pa rin ako naiintindihan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wendy’s POV:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I think I met </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> when I was young and got lost in the forest at the back of our ancestral house.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was when my grandfather died. My grandfather was my everything. He’s the only one who made me feel loved and cared for while my parents were just plain </span>
  <em>
    <span>busy</span>
  </em>
  <span>. That’s why losing him felt like a huge part of me was taken away from me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I felt alone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That’s why I spent my days in my grandfather’s study. Whenever I was there, I felt like his presence was still around.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I love reading lolo’s books, it made me catch a glimpse of where his wisdom came from. While reading one of the books, a photo fell off the floor. It was a photo of my grandmother with a note on its back: “One, two, three fire trees for some warm welcome. Then there would be waiting the grand parade of flowers that would always lead you to me. And I'd be there.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I never met her, my grandmother. She died when my father was still a young boy. But I remember so many tales of my lolo about her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“You look just like her especially when you’re playing the piano.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Lolo would always say with that longing in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One of the many tales of him was about the piano in the middle of the forest. Lolo mentioned that my grandmother loved nature so much that there were some days she would suddenly get lost in the forest only to return with a long story about her adventure.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Because my grandfather loves my grandmother so much, he built a gazebo deep in the forest and placed a piano in it so that when she gets tired, she can stay there and rest while playing music that could relax her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Holding the picture, I was set on an adventure an 8 year old girl would never dare to push through with.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Three. Three fire trees. Just as the note mentioned.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beside the third fire tree was a meadow of flowers. It stretched so beautifully around and at its end… there’s the gazebo.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I played and played to my heart’s desire.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wala namang makakapansin na wala ako.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I was there throughout the day na ‘di ko na napansin na gabi na pala.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“See… no one really looked for you.” I remembered saying to myself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So I played one of my Lolo’s favorite songs: Somewhere in Time. Lagi nyang pinapatugtog yun and naturally, I had grown to love it and memorize it for him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I could feel my tears well up as I played when suddenly, a boy appeared from the other side of the forest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who are you?” “Otid om awaganig gnona?” We both said at the same time.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I remembered being bewildered by this kid. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Is he speaking another language?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Otid tokatatan ab ak idnih?” He continued speaking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t understand you. Anong sinasabe mo?” I asked in return. I frown at him. Does he know english kaya?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He also frowned. “Rengierof a uoy era? Nahidnitniam atik idnih?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe I was just not hearing clearly that’s why I walked towards him. Magtatanong sana ulit ako but he looked really scared. Of what? Of me?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ab ak otlum?” He was slowly walking away from me. But still I could understand what he was saying</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hindi kita naiintindihan.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was the last thing I said before he ran away. Weird. Do I look like a ghost?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I didn’t stay that much longer in the forest. It’s way past bedtime, I should head home. I walked towards our house but took one last glance at the gazebo and to the place where the boy ran to.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That side of the forest looked very much like it </span>
  <em>
    <span>mirrored </span>
  </em>
  <span>this side.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I shrugged it off before walking home. As expected, nobody cared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I always went back to the gazebo since I discovered it. Nobody really paid attention that much to what I do so I was practically on my own. That place gave me solace nobody was able to give me growing up. And it was fine… until one day, he appeared again.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sdrawkcab tub… emiT ni erehwemoS.” He said something which I didn’t understand again.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I stopped playing and frowned at him. He suddenly took out a pen and paper and wrote something:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We are backwards.” the note said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I took the pen and paper and wrote back: “What do you mean?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He grabbed the pen and paper again and wrote: “Try rewriting this starting from the last letter to the first:” he looked back at me for a while. I nodded for him to continue so he continued: “.koesniM m'I !iH” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wrote it so fast compared to how he was writing before it. So I slowly wrote the letters backwards and it resulted in: “Hi! I'm Minseok.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I dropped the pen and stared at him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>We are backwards?</span>
  </em>
  <span> What the hell did he mean by that?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I looked around the place, how everything looked mirrored. And it suddenly hit me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was not normal.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So I ran away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I fell many times away from the gazebo. If that was a dream, I should have been awakened by then but no, I got home full of scratches. Marks which meant that the whole thing was real.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>For the first time since I had been going to the gazebo, my mother finally saw me walking back home. She asked what happened to me as I was full of scrapes and scratches. I just ran to my room and locked myself with the knowledge that there’s something utterly different from this world that’s happening on the other side of the forest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The next day, I walked back to the forest and checked if I could manage to pass through the other end. But just like a maze, I found myself walking back towards our house… and not the other way around.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was indeed a mirror. But how… how could that boy walk through it?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Exactly three days from when we met, the boy appeared again. And this time, I didn’t run. This time, I talked to him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This time… I didn’t feel lonely.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As time passed, I got used to having his presence around. Hindi naman sya araw araw nagpupunta sa gazebo. He just goes there on certain months. Holiday vacations daw nila when his family would visit his grandmother’s home.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He kept on talking about his family. Weird that even though he didn’t feel like he belonged there… it seemed like he wasn’t lonely at all. Unlike me.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Until one day, my parents suddenly </span>
  <em>
    <span>looked</span>
  </em>
  <span> for me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“San ka galing, Wendy?” My mom asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Gazebo ni Lolo.” I simply replied. We were eating dinner and for the first time, we were all present at the table.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Does it still stand? Ang tanda na nun. Baka naman anytime bumigay yun. It’s dangerous.” My father spoke.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I didn’t reply. Why asked all of the sudden?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you not go this week? Remember your childhood friend, yung anak ni Ninang Cathy mo, si Suho? He’ll be here in the Philippines. Samahan mo naman mag-ikot ikot. He doesn’t know that many people here.” My mom said with a big smile on her face. Something I was never used to seeing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Anong meron? Why should I? I didn’t answer them. But by the looks of my father, I felt like I didn't have a choice.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And that’s when they started taking my freedom out of my hands.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Going to the forest was harder, thank god, I only need to go there when </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> was there. Pero kung dati I can freely go, ngayon, I had to sneak out para lang makapunta.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But everytime I see him… parang nawawala lahat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Minseok.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Minseok became this presence I started depending on to. For years, I felt like I was the only person in my world… until magically, he sneaked into it and made me feel a little less lonely. Grabe no? The little time we were together, those times were the ones that made a significant impact to me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He had become a home. One where I can feel like I had someone to depend on to. He had become the warmth to my cold and lonely world. And I ached everytime to seek refuge back to him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Years passed. Slowly but rather surely, little by little, I knew… he became someone more for me.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Anong araw dyan ngayon?” he asked by writing backwards in the fifth notebook we had since we first started talking. I smiled at the thought of how we filled those notebooks with our memories. 5 years.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“January 28, 2026.” I replied in writing. I tried to think back the days we talked… but I felt like it was the first time we talked about this. Time.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh. Dito, January 28 din pero 2016.” he replied with that lazy writing he had. I could see that he used to write in calligraphy as to how the strokes of his writings were… but adjusting to our situation makes it hard for him to write neatly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“10 years.” I wrote back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Grabe… 10 years ang pagitan namin. But tomorrow would be 27 here. Teka… parang may mali.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I was pulled out of my reverie when I felt him tuck away my hair behind my ear.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yrros.” He said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But all that’s in my head was the realization that… his time flows forward. And it was mine that was flowing backwards.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So if that was the case...</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you think… that there’ll be a time where we are at the same time?” I immediately wrote in the notebook and showed it to him, hoping he would understand what I meant.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“January 28 2021. 5 years from both where we are now.” I continued. “Would we be in the same space by that time?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I calculated it. 5 years from today, and also 5 years from him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Just maybe…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe, it can happen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe that time… that same space we would have… could be the bridge of my world to yours.” I continued.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And in that maybe, that tiny hope from that </span>
  <em>
    <span>maybe</span>
  </em>
  <span> had given us, we hold on to the thought that we can pull one of us to be in the same space as the other.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>“Let’s meet at our same time.”</b>
  <span> We both said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I went back home with a new found strength to get through the coming days.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I never imagined that waiting for five years would be so hard. Especially when I kept on coming back and he is not.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>3rd Person’s POV:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They agreed to meet at a certain place, on a certain date and at a certain time:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the gazebo within the forest in the back of their homes. January 28 2021. 12:00 AM.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It is a full moon and it would hover over the highest tree… at the very middle of the forest they both knew like the back of their hand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That’s when the time in their worlds are the same.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Or so they thought.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Minseok arrived just roughly a minute before 12 o’clock.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But in the middle of the flower meadow… all that remains is the ruins of what once a beautiful gazebo.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wendy? I’m here. I’m finally here at our same space.” But nobody answered. Minseok started to panic.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wendy naman. You’re here, right? Nagtatago ka ba? Madilim, lugi ako. Takot ako sa multo kaya di ako masyado makakaikot. Nasan ka na? Magpakita ka na please.” He kept on pleading.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But five years had already passed since the last time he was here. Many things could have happened in that 5 years. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What if Wendy got tired?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>What if katulad ng sinasabe ng iba… she suddenly thought na baka hindi pala totoo ‘tong lahat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You were my anchor. You were real. Wendy please. I’m finally here.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He kept on calling the whole night, he even went through the whole forest, even ending up at the other side of the forest which he had never been able to do in the past. But Wendy’s not there. She was not around.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There was supposed to be a big house there. Wendy’s ancestral house. It should be there at the top hill from the forest. But all there was was a plane that stretches to the night sky.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It wasn’t there.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minseok’s family found him lying in the middle of the ruined gazebo the next day. He was put back in a hospital to be transferred back again to the US. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>relapsed, </span>
  </em>
  <span>they said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the hospital, he kept on telling the doctor of </span>
  <em>
    <span>this story</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He even showed her the notes they exchanged when they were together. The doctor looks at him understandingly. It’s common to build a world from your thoughts where you'd find comfort for yourself. It was a coping mechanism, as they say. Our mind is that powerful. We believe in things we want to and hold on to it because you feel like that’s all there is.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>For Irene, it’s okay. Minseok never really had a breakdown whenever he thinks of that girl in the gazebo. But for his family, they thought of it as a weakness. And she hates that they see it like that. That’s why she prefers to have Minseok here in this hospital rather than in the US. He can </span>
  <em>
    <span>believe</span>
  </em>
  <span> here.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She helps Minseok calm down. He did eventually. The doctor has a way with her words that made him feel like she understands.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But before the doctor leaves, Minseok grabs her arm and places a photo in her hand. “Find her for me please.” He pleaded. “If she’s not real then why do I have this?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The doctor took a look at the picture and smiled at him. “I cannot promise but I’ll try.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She walks out of his room and into the next where another patient is waiting for her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi Doc Irene.” The girl smiles.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi. How are you?” Irene, the doctor, asks her patient. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hmm… </span>
  <em>
    <span>lonely</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” The patient replied.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I’m here to accompany you. Would you want to tell me another story?” Irene sits at the couch beside the patient by the window sill.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The patient chuckles in return. “You’re getting bored of my stories. Baka kaya ang tagal ko na dito kasi naniniwala ka sa parallel universe story ko ha. It was just a comfort story for me. Hindi naman yun totoo. Kasi duh, wala nga akong memories di ba?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t be so harsh on yourself. Malay mo… in those fantasies of yours, may bits of memories ka na naitago dun.” Irene urges her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine. Wag mo akong tatawanan if ikwento ko ulit yung peter pan ko ha.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure, little </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wendy</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Let me hear that again.” She smiles at her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So Wendy started telling the story of the mirrored forest and the boy that came out of it. She called him Peter. Kasi he felt like a peter pan to her, someone who let her experience Neverland, a place with no boundaries where in anything can happen, kahit sa imagination lang. There in that place, parang ang saya lang lagi.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Actually, that’s why the hospital named her Wendy. She kept on talking about Peter Pan ever since she woke up. She was brought to the hospital last January 13, 2021. </span>
  <em>
    <span>The day the moon hid.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She was found lying at the riverside that time and when she woke up, she can’t remember anything.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was covered in ashes that time, a survivor from the wildfire in the forest, they concluded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But nobody really looked for her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ang lungkot no? That Wendy isn’t really destined for Peter Pan, may it be from the fairytale or from my wild imagination.” Wendy says at the end of her story. “They are from different worlds eh. Maybe they are just bound to meet lang but never to grow old together.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe. Pero madami na din kayang version yung Peter Pan. There was this story na nagstay si Peter Pan sa mundo ni Wendy. He grew old there.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But not with her. Sa apo ata yun napunta.” Wendy chuckles.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But still. We can create our own fairytales kaya. If that comforts you, parang wala namang masamang maniwala ka dun.” Irene tells her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wendy smiles at her. It’s nice to really have a company that listens. That makes you feel like you exist.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Ang hirap kasi maging blank slate sa isang mundong wala ka naman noon.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a different kind of lonely, but she hopes she can find her true comfort here soon.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You look tired. Alis na ako para makapag pahinga ka.” Irene says.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Irene stands, the photo Minseok gave to her falls down on the floor. Wendy takes it and stares at it for a while.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wendy, are you okay?” Irene worriedly asks her as she slowly rubs Wendy’s back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tears keep on falling on her eyes. “Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you crying?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wendy manages to smile. “I’m in the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Same Space</span>
  </em>
  <span> as Peter Pan. And it feels so real.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>THE END</strong>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please leave kudos and comments for our author! &lt;3 You could also leave a like and share with your friends on Twitter! Just look for our festival thread on @exovelvetwrtrs.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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